If I want to be an intellectual, what fiction should I read?

"Dream Of My Father" by Bill Ayers.

Ulysses - James Joyce

Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

How about Infinite Jest, Underworld, Blood Meridian, and The Snow Leopard. Should be a great start and also very enjoyable once you get into them. Those are just what come to mind immediately, if this takes off I'll add a few more.

Just watch Fox News.

Fine Ag wrote:

Just watch Fox News.

I was waiting for the (inevitable?) "Bible" suggestion, but this is probably in the same ballpark.

Anyway, I second "Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West." [Take your dictionary (English, at least; maybe Spanish as well) with you, though.] It's truly brilliant and one of many candidates for the Great American Novel.

Speaking of which, you can read some of Philip Roth's stuff (use Google to look for "best Philip Roth novel," maybe). And I actually thought "Moby Dick" was excellent, probably because I read it without being required to do so. "The Scarlet Letter," ditto.

rky7 wrote:

I was waiting for the (inevitable?) "Bible" suggestion, but this is probably in the same ballpark.

The Bible is actually a ridiculously good read, even when read for nonreligious reasons. Even growing up religious, I had never read the Bible other than during church. It isn't meant to be read cover-to-cover, though, so figuring out a good way to tackle it is key.

Back to the topic at hand, I would also suggest Infinite Jest. OP, take on that one and then come back to us in 5 years and we'll give you another.

Cubism Cubed wrote:

Ulysses - James Joyce

Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

Any Pynchon, tbh

The Bible is not a good read. Read Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible if you are interested in a athesist-scientist's take. Asimov read several versions of the Bible, and includes commentary about books of the Bible that from some reason do not appear in all versions of the Bible.http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30009.Asimov_s_Guide_to_the_Bible

Reading Rainbow wrote:

The Bible is actually a ridiculously good read, even when read for nonreligious reasons.

Slaughterhouse 5/The Childrens Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut

Another vote for Infinite Jest

The Plays of Aristophanes (debauchery, how to cook and serve excrement)

Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais (genital shaving and more ways to serve excrement)

Satyricon (50 shades of Rome)

Martial’s Epigrams (ancient Roman porn)

Chaucer's the Miller's Tale (ass-licking)

Chaucer's The Wife of Bath - (steamy sex reminiscences and the first use of the c word in written English)

Fanny Hill by John Cleland (a teenage prostitute tells all)

Les Bijoux Indiscrets by Diderot (what to do with your genitals in an African harem)

One Thousand and One Nights (a king does things with a different virgin every night for just over 1,000 nights)

A Ramble in St James Park poem by John Wilmot (shocking, just shocking)

The Rainbow by DH Lawrence (hot lesbian sex)

The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis (if only because Jesus has sex)

Inconvenient Truth - Al Gore, acclaimed scientist

1984-George Orwell

Brothers Karamazov

Les Miserables

War and Peace

The Odyssey

much easier to forget all the above and just buy this book

http://www.amazon.com/Become-Ridiculously-Well-read-Evening-Encapsulations/dp/0140074511

The Plague. By Camus

Master and Man. Dostoyevsky

East of Eden. Steinbeck

That seems like a pretty good start.

Atlas Shrugged

Master and Man is by Tolstoy. But it's a good choice.

EPO is my middle name wrote:

How about Infinite Jest, Underworld, Blood Meridian, and The Snow Leopard. Should be a great start and also very enjoyable once you get into them. Those are just what come to mind immediately, if this takes off I'll add a few more.

nice starter pack, but I found Underworld unf'inreadable.

Probably want to toss in something foreign - Midnight's Children instead of Underworld, I'd say.